A Hero's Journey Through Science Fiction

In Memoriam: Futurama

Today the eulogy will be given by Brother Phil Plait, Astronomy and Lecture, creator of Bad Astronomy.

“There is a hypothesis—out of favor now, but it had its heyday—that the universe was cyclical. Big Bang, expansion, slowing, stopping, shrinking, Big Crunch … and then kaboom, another Big Bang, and here we go again. Art imitates life. The TV show Futurama exploded in to the geek community, rose in popularity, then was canceled. Then it was reborn, only to be canceled again. And then for a second time it was reborn from its ashes. But this cycle may be the last. Perhaps it’s entropy. Perhaps it’s a network executive who thinks Scruffy hits too close to home…”

For the rest of the sermon, and other lectures, attend Bad Astronomy at Slate.com.